Man this is turning out to be a lot more fun than I was hoping for. Most of the damn nuts are spinning in the holders with almost no way to get to them. Im thinking about cutting the heads of the bolts off and just order new ones. Oh yeah its a 1965 ford f100. Im trying to get the grill off. A couple of them I was able to get some vise grips on some but the bottom bolts are hidden perty good. Any ideas?
dont use a torch... bad medicine there... use an air cutoff wheel and go slow. bolts are cheap, tin/trim is not...
I want an older truck like a 36 ford or something like that. But my dad had this sitting at my grandmas house for 10 years so I took it. Im going to slam it and clean it up. My dad still thinks its his but there is no way. Im going to use it to tow my 65 falcon wagon.
That would be cool. I think im going to put some 10" wide steels with chrome rings and caps. I want to paint it semi gloss copper orange. With some kind of scallops. I dont know what color wheels Oh and 3 inch white walls.
I grinded or cut all the stubborn bolts that were giveing me a hard time.You then need to go out to orchards, or what ever hardware store and buy nuts and bolts, fender washers. I bought them in bulk. Even if you dont use them then, you will later. Neve use old nuts and bolts, In my advice.
Soak everything you are planning on touching for at least a week. Go out every couple days and soak.... If they fight you coming off (commonly caused by rust on the exposed threads), Tighten them. This will snap off the bolt and you will have to remove the broken shank and nut after. Don't do this on blind stuff, just what you can reach.
My advice whenever starting a new project. Buy a few cans of WD-40 carefully go around the entire vehicle spray the front and rear of ALL bolts/nuts careful not to overspray any plastic or painted areas you don't want to stain or interior parts you aren't going to replace then be patient wait a week or so go back and small wire brush all the rust the wd-40 loosened up especially the threaded area re wd-40 again and then start to dissasemble this gives you a chance to look over the vehicle and any problem areas ,special tools you may need swivels ect and saves tons of time trying to remove busted bolts and saves big money in bandaids and saves on sore knuckles too!!
If you can get to the cage nuts, vise grips can sometimes get enough clamping power so that a wrench on the bolt can break them loose. Often they are not that badly frozen. It's just that the cages are rusty too and become the weak link. New cage nuts are available to tack weld in place for reassembly.
yea, i gotta say one last time... old hardware is not worth the trouble. use new. the goofy "nutclips" are available from dennis carpenter and they arent that spendy. bolts are also cheap. use new stuff... it'll look better and guaranteed to come apart if you need to work on something in 6 months
The thing that sucks is that the only ones messing up are the ones that you cant get to the back. Or I would would put vise grips on the back.
I went through the same thing last year on my 66. Just takes patience. Like is being said, spray them with penetrant and let soak, trying tightening before loosening, look for creative ways to access the nut clips. I sometimes smack them with a hammer or wrench, supposed to help the penetrant soack into the threads. I broke a lot of fasteners. Was able to grind some off, drill some out, etc. There are cheaper places than Dennis Carpenter or autozone for replacement hardware. I got some of my new hardware from an automotive trim supply house. An old place in a rundown part of town. Some autobody supply places carry this stuff also.
OK, I had the same problem except on a 50 year old Ford. I did use a torch, but not Oxy-Acetylene. Instead I used a propane torch and heat cycled them a few times, things came out a whole lot better after that. Just don't sit on them too long, just long enough to get them hot, let them cool, heat them again, cool and try to break them free. If it doesn't work, try the process again.
I've found that "In-Force" by BG Products is very helpful. Just spray and let sit overnight.....and usually they come loose.
I havent had any problems with them breaking just then nut clips messing up and the nut breaking from the clip and not being able to get to the back of them.
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